{"id":197,"date":"2018-11-08T17:35:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T17:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=197"},"modified":"2018-11-20T10:46:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T10:46:57","slug":"why-we-go-to-the-fertility-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"Why we go to the Fertility Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last couple of years, the research team has attended the annual Fertility Show in London<\/a>. Now in its tenth year of existence, the Fertility Show has emerged as a key event for people who are interested in learning more about family making, infertility and the world of fertility treatment. This year, which also marks the 40th anniversary of IVF,<\/a>\u00a0the show hosted over 100 exhibitors from the UK and beyond, over 50 seminars, and thousands of visitors over the course of the weekend. All sorts of exhibitors were present; ranging from clinicians, doctors and practitioners who specialise in all aspects of reproductive health and medicine, advice groups, trusts and charities, financial and legal consultants, lifestyle and nutrition advisors, holistic therapists, acupuncturists, and many more.<\/p>\n

For the research team, being at the Fertility Show is a chance to learn about technological innovations that are taking place in the world of IVF as well as how these are presented to people who are considering this type of fertility procedure. In other words, the show offers an insight into how professionals communicate their expertise to the non-expert \u2018general public\u2019, which can tell us something important about how science and technology \u2018operate\u2019 in the world. In practice, we divided ourselves across the two days to attend seminars, explore the stands, talk to fertility professionals and collect written material, such as flyers and information booklets, to add to our growing archive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the quantity of printed material can be overwhelming, as a collection it tells us a lot about how the possibilities and technologies of conception are dynamic and continuously evolving. Of special interest to me is how imagery and visual aids are used to communicate information. This includes medical illustrations, diagrams, charts, ultrasound imagery and product images, as well as all the other photographs that are used to frame information in very particular (and sometimes quite peculiar) ways. The most obvious observation with regards to the latter is the proliferation of pregnancy images, which often focus on the ‘baby bump’, and pictures of the wished-for child.\u00a0Broadening out we might think about how this visual material presents male and female reproductive bodies differently or about the assumptions that are made about what constitutes a ‘family’ in this context.<\/p>\n

Talking to people at the show is also an opportunity to tell them about our research, which often involves challenging ourselves to effectively explain the value of social science in an otherwise heavily medicalised field. This is not an unfamiliar contention for researchers who employ qualitative methods, such as interviews, visual analysis and ethnographic observation, as opposed to research methods that are associated with the \u2018hard sciences\u2019, which often involve quantification.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, medical and scientific research is absolutely fundamental to the advancement of effective and safe fertility treatment. But as social scientists we are equipped with tools that allow us to offer differently nuanced pictures of the everyday practices through which scientific knowledge is made, and how these processes of knowledge production and translation are regularly tied up with social, cultural, relational and emotional dimensions of lived experience that are rooted in particular contexts. This kind of insight is particularly important as new technologies are introduced and negotiated by both IVF professionals and patients \u2013 what do these technologies mean<\/em> to people and how are they made sense of?<\/p>\n

In addition to exploring and learning at this year\u2019s show, being in this environment provokes considerations that should be at the forefront of any research project: about what our research can offer and how to communicate its value to others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last couple of years, the research team has attended the annual Fertility Show in London. Now in its tenth year of existence, the Fertility Show has emerged as a key event for people who are interested in learning more about family making, infertility and the world of fertility treatment. This year, which also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4],"tags":[10,18,20,19],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","tag-infertility","tag-fertility-show","tag-reproductive-technology","tag-research"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9YI6o-3b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":369,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=369","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":0},"title":"PET’s annual conference: COVID-19 and the fertility sector","date":"16th December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the pleasure of attending this year\u2019s online Progress Educational Trust (PET) annual conference where the topics for consideration were fertility, genomics and COVID-19. Consultant Jane Stewart opened the first session by speaking about the experiences of fertility clinics and she used the surfing analogy of \u2018riding the wave\u2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":630,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=630","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":1},"title":"Government plans for a Women’s Health Strategy in England","date":"7th January 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In June 2021 Manuela Perrotta and I responded to the government's\u00a0call for evidence to inform their forthcoming Women's Health Strategy for England. The government consultation received over 110,000 public survey responses and over 400 written responses. Just before the December holidays, the Department of Health & Social Care\u00a0published their vision\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":617,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=617","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":2},"title":"PET’s annual conference: The current state and regulation of the fertility sector","date":"13th December 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"At the beginning of December, we kept up our tradition of attending the Progress Educational Trust\u2019s (PET) annual conference. The title and topic of this year\u2019s online event was \u2018Reproducing Regulation: Who Regulates Fertility and How?\u2019 With 16 talks across the full day, I have chosen just a handful here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":536,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=536","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":3},"title":"The Fertility and Modern Family shows 2021","date":"16th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The project team were present at this year's Modern Family Show and the Fertility Show Online Summit. The timing of these shows presented a perfect opportunity for us to share our new animations, which you can watch on our website here. Our booth at the Fertility Show Online Summit contained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/image-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":273,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=273","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":4},"title":"Fertility Show 2019: ‘Holding it together’","date":"12th November 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The vast exhibition hall of the London Fertility Show felt strangely familiar this year as I have come to recognise company stands, logos and people from previous years. A slight difference this year was the presence of a branch-out Fertility Fest, which is always of particular interest to me given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=639","url_meta":{"origin":197,"position":5},"title":"Open event: A global perspective on fertility treatment add-ons","date":"19th January 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"We invite you to a free online event organised in collaboration with the Progress Educational Trust. Some of our findings from the Remaking the Human Body project will be presented at this event. Title: Adding up what we know: A global perspective on fertility treatment add-ons Date: 26 January 2022,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Final-event-for-blog.jpg.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remakingthehumanbody.sbm.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}